Millions of tonnes of plastic garbage winds up in our oceans each year. Voluntary pledges haven’t worked. It’s time for Canada to advocate for an international plastics treaty.
Besides wondrous creatures, new discoveries and spectacular filming, Sir David Attenborough’s follow up to The Blue Planet comes with a stark warning about the future
Sun cream ingredients have been linked to hormonal changes in fish and coral bleaching.
Chinese ceramics recovered from the 9th century Belitung shipwreck in Indonesia, now held at the Asian Civilisations Museum (Singapore)
ArtScience Museum Singapore
Archaeologists this week found that more than half of of HMAS Perth, a WWII wreck in Indonesia, has disappeared. It’s now a race to protect the millions of other wrecks and sunken cities lying under the oceans.
The researchers found nearly 38 million pieces of plastic rubbish on Henderson Island, in one of the remotest parts of the ocean.
Jennifer Lavers
Plastics pose a major threat to seabirds and other animals, and most don’t ever break down - they just break up. Every piece of petrochemical-derived plastic ever made still exists on the planet.
Pollution and debris off the Sri Lankan coast.
David Jones/plasticoceans.org
Microfibres and microplastics are a massive problem for marine life. Once ingested, they
severely affect marine animals ability to eat. There’s also concerns about their toxicity.
Many seabird species, including the blue petrel (Halobaena caerulea), consume plastic at sea because algae on the plastic produce an odor that resembles their food sources.
J.J. Harrison
Thousands of seabirds die every year from consuming plastic trash in the oceans. But why do they eat plastic? New research shows that it produces odors that help some species find prey.
Seagrass meadows are often overlooked by the public but vital to the ocean ecosystem.
Ben Jones
Coal dust and oil can spread toxic chemicals hundreds of kilometres out to sea. But Australia’s monitoring guidelines do not meet the standards used in countries such as the United States.
Plastic fragments found in dissected fish.
Algalita Marine Research and Education
Dave West from the environmental group Boomerang Alliance told Fairfax that if you’ve got an average seafood diet in Australia, you’re probably ingesting about 11,000 plastic pieces a year. Is that right?
When researchers combined two industrial waste products they created a material that could clean up mercury.
Ashton Claridge/Flinders University
California is the latest state to attempt to ban microplastics from consumer care products. Why these commonly used microbeads are causing major health and environmental problems.